The group entered hip hop at a time when rap music was believed to be a fad and record companies were reluctant to sign rap artists.[4] Originally calling themselves Super Nature (on their first single), James and Denton debuted in 1985 with the single "The Showstopper", an answer record to Doug E. Fresh's hit single "The Show".[2] "The Showstopper" was produced by Hurby Azor. The song utilized a melody from the 1984 filmRevenge of the Nerds. The finished recording garnered some airplay on a New York City rap radio program. The independent Pop Art Records gave it an official release, and "The Showstopper" became a modest R&B hit.

Albums

Hot, Cool & Vicious

With the success of this song, the group's name was changed to Salt-N-Pepa (which they had called themselves in the first verse of the song) and they signed to the independent Next Plateau Records to record a full-length album.[2] Roper then joined the group as the DJ, replacing DJ Latoya Hanson as Spinderella,[5][6][7] and the group's first album Hot, Cool & Vicious was released afterwards in 1986. The album was produced by Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor, Salt's boyfriend at the time and also the group's manager.[2] Years later, the women would have legal issues with Azor as they accused him of paying unfair royalties.Hot, Cool & Vicious provided some moderate R&B hits with the singles "My Mic Sound Nice", "Tramp", and "Chick On The Side". But when San FranciscoDJ and producer Cameron Paul created a remix to "Push It", the B-side of the "Tramp" single, it gave the group their first major hit.[2] "Push It" (US #19, UK #2) became a platinum single in the United States, and a hit in several other countries, and was added to subsequent pressings of Hot, Cool & Vicious. It was nominated for a Grammy Award, and the strength of that single catapulted the album to platinum sales in the US with one million sold, making Denton, James, and Roper the first female rap act (group or solo) to go gold or platinum.The album ultimately sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.

A Salt with a Deadly Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa's next album release, 1988's A Salt with a Deadly Pepa, contained the Top Ten R&B hit and moderate pop hit "Shake Your Thang", featuring the go-go band E.U. A top 20 R&B hit and a minor pop hit were also seen in "Get Up Everybody (Get Up)" and "Twist and Shout" (UK #4), respectively; with "Twist and Shout" becoming a major hit in the UK on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #4,[8] and several other European countries. The album sold about 800,000 copies worldwide with roughly 600,000 of those in the US, attaining gold status.

Blacks' Magic

The group's third album Blacks' Magic was released in March 1990, and was a personal album for the trio on many fronts. Pepa would become the first group member to become pregnant. Azor would produce some songs on the album, but often late or a no show to recording sessions, as he was producing other acts, he agreed to let the artists work with different producers to finish the album. James and Roper took on producing assignments themselves and the trio also hired different producers such as Invincible's producer Dana Mozie. This was the first album to feature Roper on vocals as well as DJ'ing. The result was six singles released by Next Plateau Records, several of which became hits: "Expression" (US #26, UK #40 in 1990, UK #23 in 1992), a platinum single that had been certified gold before it even cracked the US Hot 100 as it had already been #1 on the R&B Chart for 8 weeks, and produced by Salt; "Independent"; "I Don't Know" (featuring Kid N Play); "Do You Want Me" (US #21, UK #5), certified gold; "Let's Talk About Sex" (US #13, UK #2), certified gold, and later re-recorded as "Let's Talk About Aids"; and "You Showed Me" (UK #15). The album ultimately sold 1.5 million copies worldwide with a million of those sold in the US.[citation needed] A greatest hits album called A Blitz of Salt-N-Pepa Hits, featuring some remixed versions of songs from the group's first three albums was subsequently released.

Very Necessary

Salt-N-Pepa's fourth studio album Very Necessary was released in October 1993 on London Records/Polygram.[8] The album featured songwriting and production by Salt, Pepa, Spinderella, and Azor. Buoyed by the hits "Shoop" (US #4, UK #13), co-produced by Pepa; "Whatta Man" (US #3, UK #7) (featuring En Vogue); and "None of Your Business", a Top 40 US hit and a Top 20 UK hit, the album eventually sold seven million worldwide, with five million of those in the US (5x platinum), making them the first female rap act (solo or group) to have a multi-platinum selling album. The group toured and Salt went on to co-star in the motion picture comedy Who's the Man?. Pepa co-starred in the movie Joe's Apartment. Pepa had also been romantically involved with Treach of the rap group Naughty By Nature. The trio won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1995 for the single "None Of Your Business", making them the first female rap Grammy winners. The album is the best selling album by a female rap act.

Brand New

By the time of their next album release, Salt-N-Pepa had gone through the legal process of completely breaking away from Azor, whom they accused of unfair royalty payments. Salt had already stopped being romantically involved with him due to their many ups-and-downs. The trio also left London Records after one album and signed with Red Ant Records, though still distributed by Polygram Records through its Island Records label. Red Ant offered the trio a $30 million signing bonus to sign with them. The group undertook production duties once again but without Azor involved in any part of the album. The result was their fifth album, Brand New (1997), which hit stores a few months later. However, Red Ant filed for bankruptcy soon afterwards, halting promotion on all its releases, including Salt-N-Pepa's album. The group toured in support of the album, but without any promotion or marketing from the now-defunct Red Ant, they only scored minor hits in "R U Ready" and "Gitty Up". The album was certified gold in the US for sales of over 500,000 and sold approximately another 200,000 worldwide. Although not as big a seller as its predecessor, it kept intact an unbroken string of gold and platinum studio album releases by the trio.

Disbanding

In March 1999, Salt-N-Pepa embarked on a tour. Pepa married Treach of Naughty by Nature on July 27, 1999, earning them the unofficial title of hip-hop's number-one couple[citation needed]. Salt-N-Pepa's greatest-hits album, entitled Salt-N-Pepa: The Best Of, was released in Europe on January 25, 2000. Pepa and Treach would remain married for two years but their tumultuous marriage would end in divorce on July 31, 2001. With no albums contractually due at the time, Salt decided to quit the group, stating she had enough with the music industry and no longer wanted to be involved in it. They officially disbanded in 2002.Some time later, Salt announced that she would be releasing her first solo album, but she subsequently did not release the product. She was featured on the remix version of the Salt City Six's "Shine", on the album Holy South: World Wide, a compilation of Christian rap and Christian R&P (Rhythm & Praise) songs. The album was executive produced by ex-Three 6 Mafia member turned Christian rapper Mr. Del. Salt also revealed in later interviews that she had suffered from bulimia many years ago.Pepa appeared on the fifth season of VH-1's The Surreal Life. She released an autobiography entitled Let's Talk About Pep in August 2008. The book was co-written by author Karen Hunter and offers a glimpse behind the fame, family, failures, and successes of Pepa's life, as well as being a member of one of hip-hop's most successful acts. It features an introduction by Queen Latifah, and an epilogue by Missy Elliott. To accompany the book, she also launched her own social network for her fans at http://www.LetsTalkAboutPep.com. She also starred in the reality TV series Let's Talk About Pep on the VH-1 network.Spinderella is a radio personality on KKBT 100.3 in Los Angeles, California. She hosted The Backspin (with DJ Mo'Dav), a nationally-syndicated weekly radio show featuring old schoolhip hop music. She is also periodically a DJ at various club events.

Bears defensive end Julius Peppers is nicknamed "The Freak" because of his extremely rare combination of size and athleticism. But that's not the only key to his success.

In presenting a Brian Piccolo Award to the 6-7, 287-pounder Tuesday at Halas Hall, Bears defensive line coach Mike Phair lauded Peppers' work ethic and attention to detail.

"You see a guy that's one of the better football players that's ever played this game and each and every day in practice he's the first guy in line," Phair said.

"He works extremely hard and he's very coachable. In meetings, he's a guy that takes great notes. That's one of the things that you could take for granted: 'Hey, I'm a pro. I've been here. I know the system.' But he's taking notes like a rookie. That's very impressive."

Peppers' attention to detail stems from his desire to continually improve, something he's done throughout his career. Selected by the Carolina Panthers with the second pick in the 2002 draft, he has been voted to eight Pro Bowls, including three in as many years with the Bears.

"I always like to take notes because you never know it all," Peppers said. "Once you think you know it all, that's when you start falling off. It's always good to try to get a little better every day."

About this time a year ago Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason was calling out teammate Julius Peppers publicly, raising an issue of Peppers� perceived �intensity.�

Now he would be very, very happy if Peppers left any intensity back in Chicago when the Bears go to Charlotte to play Peppers� former team.

�I think Pep is going to go down as one of the best ever,� Beason said. �Truly a specimen and he�s an addition to any football team, any defense. The difference is, now that I�m playing outside [linebacker], that things are more clear to me how important it is having a big dominant D-end.�

Indeed you sometimes don�t appreciate what you had �til it�s gone. So it is with Peppers and the Panthers from whom he�s gone now after eight seasons in Carolina.

Beason, suffering through an 0-3 start then and an 0-4 one now, subsequently explained his comments about Peppers� made to a Charlotte radio station. He has gained an even greater appreciation of what Peppers was facing week after week.

�I was able to witness it first hand for three years the different schemes Pep had to deal with every Sunday as far as sliding offensive linemen his way and backs chipping in before they went out,� Beason said.

�It was tough on him but if you�re playing opposite him, you should definitely be excited about it because he will definitely command that attention.�

Bears defensive end Julius Peppers is nicknamed "The Freak" because of his extremely rare combination of size and athleticism. But that's not the only key to his success.

In presenting a Brian Piccolo Award to the 6-7, 287-pounder Tuesday at Halas Hall, Bears defensive line coach Mike Phair lauded Peppers' work ethic and attention to detail.

"You see a guy that's one of the better football players that's ever played this game and each and every day in practice he's the first guy in line," Phair said.

"He works extremely hard and he's very coachable. In meetings, he's a guy that takes great notes. That's one of the things that you could take for granted: 'Hey, I'm a pro. I've been here. I know the system.' But he's taking notes like a rookie. That's very impressive."

Peppers' attention to detail stems from his desire to continually improve, something he's done throughout his career. Selected by the Carolina Panthers with the second pick in the 2002 draft, he has been voted to eight Pro Bowls, including three in as many years with the Bears. "I always like to take notes because you never know it all," Peppers said. "Once you think you know it all, that's when you start falling off. It's always good to try to get a little better every day."

Peppers is going to have a HUGE season this upcoming season and win the Defensive Player of the Year Award... he's been training like an animal is fully healthy for the first time in since 2010, after playing through a sprained MCL in his left knee in 2011 and plantar fasciitis in his feet in 2012.

There will be more of it if the program takes root the way new strength and conditioning coordinator Mike Clark envisions it will.

Clark comes to the Bears from the Chiefs with an emphasis on explosive, multi-joint movements that are designed to increase power, which he defines as mass times velocity.

"There is a lot more emphasis on power and explosion — more hang cleans, power cleans, things of that nature, core work, things that are necessary to play football," said Bears offensive tackle Jonathan Scott, who has not been in a similar weight program since he was at Texas 2002-05. "I think it's going to be very effective. It's getting back to the basics of what football is."

"They are lifting bigger weights and will be stronger now," said Emrich

Center Roberto Garza, whom Clark calls a "weight room junkie" has been one of the leaders. So has cornerback Tim Jennings, whom Clark jokingly referred to as an "ornery little nut."

Other standouts, according to Clark, have been defensive end Julius Peppers, defensive tackle Stephen Paea, new linebackers James Anderson and D.J. Williams, safety Craig Steltz and running back Matt Forte.

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers kept it low key Thursday in expressing a desire to be the first recipient of the Deacon Jones Award, which beginning this season will be given annually to the NFL's leader in sacks.

A Hall of Fame defensive end, who coined the term "sack," Jones died in June of natural causes. Jones led the Rams' Fearsome Foursome from 1961 to '71 before playing for San Diego for two seasons and finishing with the Redskins in 1974.

"I would love to have it," Peppers said of the award. "I'm not going to sit out here and make any bold predictions or brash statements about what I'm going to do. But yeah, I would love to have it."

Jones was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and made the league's 75th anniversary all-time team. Peppers could be on the way to a similar path, having racked up 111.5 career sacks over 170 games, which ranks as 18th since 1982, when sacks became an official statistic.

Peppers contributed 11.5 sacks in 2012 and has posted 30.5 sacks in three seasons with the Bears over 48 games. Peppers became the first Bear since 2001 and 2002 last season to register double-digit sacks in back-to-back seasons. In 2011, Peppers led the team with 11 sacks.

"It's so impressive, it's hard to describe," Bears coach Marc Trestman said, "the way he carries himself around the locker room, through the meetings and certainly on the field. Watching him since April, just impressive; the consistent high level of effort. He's all over the field. He's first in line. We all want to grow up and be like Julius. Quite frankly, that's the kind of a man I think of him as."

At 33 years old, Peppers doesn't expect to experience a decline in production any time soon. Since he entered the league in 2002, he ranks No. 2 behind Minnesota’s Jared Allen(117) in sacks. He has tallied 10.5 sacks or more in four of his past five seasons.

"Once your body starts to [decline] physically, you have to put the work in," Peppers said. "I'm doing that. I wouldn't say it's any harder. I'm just doing the right things to get my recovery and working on the right things."

But does Peppers feel himself aging?

"No, not at all," he said. "I'm serious, I don't. I feel like I'm 25. Age is just a number that gets put on players. It's real, but it's really in your heart and your mind how you feel. I feel young in those places, and I think it's showing."

Having lined up against Peppers the first few practices of training camp, Bears left tackleJermon Bushrod saw that firsthand.

"He's intense every year. I've played him every year since I've been in the league. He brings it," Bushrod said. "He'll make you pay."